Great Schemers

Oh I love this weeks Great Schemers colour scheme. So vibrant and they just screamed retro to me. At first I wanted to find an intarsia rose pattern as I thought I might knit a pot holder, but that just didn't feel 70s enough!

I decided that it had to be a granny and I needed to get a rose pattern into the little 3 treble clusters.

The pattern is very simple but be warned there are A LOT of ends to sew in and if like me you hate them then just a few of these squares will be all you can manage.

So, the foundation circle and round one are in yellow, followed by two rounds of pink. For round 4 I made green granny clusters in the corners and filled in the straight edges in black. You can carry the colour at the back of the stitches to prevent all those ends but I didn't want the bright green to show through the black.Then do one final round of black and to finish I did a round of double crochet in grey.

The more I look at this square the more I love it and the possibilities are endless. You could use each of those three bright colours as solid 4 round squares with a black 5th round and then dot the retro granny through the blanket. Here is a little excel sample......

Of course you can tone the colours down and go for a more cottage garden look!

Oh my hat this has really started something in my brain now. I want to make this rose granny blanket!!

This weeks GSoT colour scheme was shades of berry with lime green and orange and I knew straight away that I wanted to make a flower. When I saw it next to my flowery Cath Kidston doctor foster bag I decided to make a brooch for my bag to add a bit of dimension but also double as a badge for me if I was out and wanted a bit of bling.

It's a very simple flower pattern with a double petal and I added some beads to the leaf to match the stitching on the leaves of the bag.

I'm thinking that these would be cute as a key ring or bag dangle too, and super quick and easy to make to pop in Christmas stockings!

Week 5 of Great Schemers was a very pretty pastel theme that I thought would be great for an Easter decoration. It's a little late for this Easter but you could get the polystyrene eggs from your local craft store at a discount price so perfect to make ready for next year.

This was another fiddly project as I wanted the covers to be quite tight and the stitches close together so I used a 2.5mm and 3mm hook.

There are patterns out there in internet land but I found it easier to measure each row around the egg and decide how many stitches to increase and decrease with each row.If anyone wants more guidance please ask in the comments and i'll do a step by step.

I just love this little nest of crochet eggs, and i'm tempted to make more to fill the jar up to the top!

This weeks theme over at Great Schemers was very spring like so I wanted to make something to add to my spring wardrobe.

I have collected quite a few silver bangles over the years to thought I would have a go at covering them with some cotton yarn.

This is a great way to use up scraps of yarn!

This project is a little fiddly as you try to hold the bangle steady and keep a good tension on the yarn but it doesn't take long to get into a good rhythm.

From right to left: The first three bangles are simple double crochet, with the first and third twisted in a spiral before joining the lst stitch to the first with a slip stitch. The second bangle I guess will twist a little when I put it on but I really squashed the stitches in so it's tightly packed and quite stiff. The forth bangle is made using two silver bangles and alternating each double crochet between them (it was very tricky to get the hook between them as the yarn pulled the bangles together towards the end. The fifth bangle is double crochet around two bangles together. This was much easier and I do like the chunkier look.

I'm going to be having a go at some more and it's so easy to simply cut the yarn off when you want to change the colour to match the season.

I made this bunting for the first colour scheme over at The Great Scheme of Things on the 14th of March. I love bunting and when the weather warms up I like to adorn the garden with colourful garlands that flap away in the breeze. It makes me think of holidays and warm places and cool swimming pools.

Bunting is quite hard to photograph so I thought that for the purposes of this project I would simply string together three little triangles so I can photograph it as a whole piece.

What I didn't realise is that I would fall head over heels in love with this teeny beauty and want to make one for every room of the house!

It's the perfect size for my shed!

or above a baby cot, in a caravan, in the bathroom or above a crafting desk.

I used Rowan hand knit cotton as I have a stash of half balls and these colours were perfect for the scheme. I wanted my triangle to be quite holey and floppy so I used a 5mm crochet hook.I was going to write out the pattern for the triangle but while searching for an edging, which I found on this lovely blog, I saw that her pattern is pretty much identical to what I did and so well written that it's pointless trying to reinvent the wheel :) Just a few differences:I made two chain between each three treble granny on the straight edges,Three rounds was big enough for me,I did 5 treble in the 'point' corner not 3.

I was going to add buttons to the bunting but remembered these sweet paper roses on wire stems I have had for years! I simply threaded the wire through the stitches at the back of the top edging.There are many safe alternatives for bunting that can be reached by little fingers! Like crochet or felt roses :)

Now I wanted to talk about the construction of bunting in a bit more depth as I have put together quite a few over the years and never been 100% happy with the result. Normally I chain a length of around 45cms and then attached the first triangle by double crocheting into the top right hand corner. And while this seems to be what everyone does, I don't like that the thinness of the chain. I wanted something a little chunkier.

For this bunting I made a 45cm chain and worked a row of double crochet back along the length to the beginning. The length does shrink slightly so remember to take that into account.I then attached the first triangle with a double crochet into the top treble of the first scallop. I have zoomed into one of the photographs to show you what it looks like...

I worked double crochet, making 1 dc into the corner chain spaces, 1 dc into each of the trebles and 2 into the chain spaces along the top edge...

When you get to the end of the triangle, double crochet into the top scallop again.

I made three chain inbetween each triangle. The thinner chain doesn't bother me here maybe because it's only three chain. If I made a longer bunting with bigger gaps it may bug me.

The thing I love about crochet is that a pattern is just a starting point. You will always have your own tweeks to make and things that work better for you.

Today is launch day and this blog is going to be so full of awesome inspiration you are going to want to visit every day!!

So the idea is that each Saturday we will introduce a new colour scheme, then for the following 6 days there will be project posted using that colour scheme. These projects will be anything from paper craft and mixed media to knitting and crochet to jewellery making, oh the possibilities are endless.

Everyone is invited to play along, so if the colour scheme inspires you to create, please leave a link in the comments so we can come and have a look!

Here is a sneaky of my project...

I'm thrilled to be part of this lovely team :) Don't forget to bookmark so you can keep checking back.

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All about me

Hello and welcome to my little corner of the world wide web. My name is Caroline, I am wife to Stuart, and mum to Josh the cat and Julia and Joan, the chickens. I'm addicted to all things crafty, spending my free time crocheting, knitting or paper crafting. Thanks for visiting!